Jack Hanna: Human life comes first in search for escaped animals

ZANESVILLE -- Jack Hanna, Director Emeritus, of the Columbus Zoo is on the scene in Zanesville where a number of wild animals have escaped.

Approximately 50 animals including big cats and bears escaped Tuesday. Dozens of the animals have been killed.

Columbus Zoo personnel will try Wednesday during the day to tranquilize a number of the remaining animals.

Hanna, however, says as difficult as it is to see the animals put down, it was the right decision. He says people must understand that the safety of surrounding community and the law enforcement officers come first.

"We're trying our best to make sure no one is hurt doing this. The animals, the question is, why didn't they tranquilize last night? You can't tranquilize at night. It upsets them. Its like if you got popped with a shot. They settle in, hunker down, go to sleep. We can't find them in the dark. What had to be done had to be done," said Hanna.

Hanna added that Ohio is currently working on legislation to make it much harder for people to run wild animal exhibit such as the one in Zanesville.

"The main thing is we have a couple animal auctions in the state of Ohio that have to be shut down. It's like a drug dealer. You finally get the drugs and, you know, then the man gets the animals. So where's the source of these animals coming from? That has to be stopped and if the governor wants me involved, we will stop these animal auctions and stop it immediately. It has to be done. This is an example here. What happened here should not happen again."